Taking the organic route

Four years ago two women met up in London's pioneering gastropub, the Lansdowne in Primrose Hill, to hatch a plan for a new kind of eating venue.

Geetie Singh, 31, who was working in a north London wholefood shop, and Esther Boulton, 32, who had previously been a chef and waitress and was working for the Croydon Museum, had been childhood friends. The vision for the catering venture was Singh's. She wanted to open an organic gastropub and was looking for a partner, so she put the idea to Boulton.

Fired with enthusiasm, the pair raised £250,000 from friends, and friends of friends. Their first gastropub, the Duke of Cambridge in Islington, north London, opened in December 1998 and took £12,000 in its first week, breaking even after just four months. It went on to win the 2000 Time Out gastropub award.

Third venue launch

Within two years, Singh and Boulton had opened a second venue, the Crown, in London's East End, and a third - the Pelican - is being launched this month in Notting Hill Gate. Like its sister pub the Duke of Cambridge, the Crown is certified as organic by the Soil Association. In fact the two establishments were only the first and second officially certified organic pubs in the world.

The kitchens are run independently, but keeping an eye on both operations is the Crown's head chef Caroline Hamlin, who opened the Duke of Cambridge before transferring to the Crown. She was running the kitchen at the Lansdowne when Singh and Boulton had their initial business meeting. "I would describe my cooking style as really unpretentious - not poncy at all. The food speaks for itself," says Hamlin.

She uses around 60 organic suppliers and works around available seasonal ingredients. Sometimes it can be frustrating to find that fruit or vegetables which seem to be in season are just not available from organic suppliers. It is also impossible to get some ingredients such as cured hams like Serrano or chorizo with organic certification. "We just have to do without them," she says.

The Crown's customers don't seem to notice the missing ingredients if the fact that it took £20,000 a week initially and broke even after eight months is anything to go by. The pub, which overlooks Victoria Park (built in the 19th century to give impoverished East Enders some green city space), draws an urban chic crowd through its doors. Its style of operation is definitely casual, with the ground floor retaining a traditional pub appearance of wooden floors and solid wooden tables.

Customers can just drink or order as much or little as they want from the menu chalked up on a blackboard, dining either in the 60-seat bar downstairs or in the more formal 40-seat restaurant upstairs. A window in the kitchen puts the cooking on full view.

The menu changes twice a day and serves breakfast, lunch and dinners. Typical main courses might be chicken in red wine with bacon, onions and mash (£11.50), pork meatballs with tomato sauce and polenta (£7.50), rib-eye steak, chips and Caesar salad (£13.50), or grilled tuna with pepperonata and spinach (£11.50). Desserts come in at £5 and might include chocolate soufflé cake, pear and almond tart or farm cheese with chutney and biscuits.

The menu is definitely carnivorous, but there is always a vegetarian option. "That's not what we are about," says Singh. "Our meat is organic and you know that the animals have had a good life." In fact rib-eye steak is consistently the most popular item on the menu.

Close by the chalked menu is a sign which reads: "Our fish is caught by sustainable methods. It cannot be classified as organic" and another admits that the game, which is caught by hunting, also cannot be classed as organic.

But there is no such apology by the huge drinks board. Beer, including an own-label brew from Singhboulton - the company formed by a combination of the two founders' names - lager, cider, gin, vodka, Champagne and an extensive wine list are all organic. Fancy a cocktail? Kir Royale or Sea Breeze or wines by the glass - no problem. The most expensive white is Puligny Montrachet Guyot et fils '98 at £40 or the red Valpollicella '97 at £45.

Apart from using organic ingredients and following all the rules laid down by the Soil Association, the enterprise is run along wider ethical lines. The Crown serves purified tap water processed on-site rather than bottled water which has been trundled around the country. Cleaning products and light bulbs are environment-friendly, as much as possible is recycled, and staff and suppliers are treated fairly. For instance, suppliers are paid in advance for part of each order and given a 1% premium for the benefit of the local community, and staff earn premium rates of pay and have paid holidays.

Profitable operation

Considering what would seem like financial penalties, the prices at the Crown are reasonable and the operation is profitable. On the breakfast menu, kippers and poached egg on toast is £8 and muesli, fruit yogurt and honey, £5. The starters include chicken liver pâté, pear chutney, pickles and toast (£6.50), bruschetta with grilled vegetables, goats' cheese and pesto (£7.50) and watercress, avocado, walnut and Roquefort salad (£6.50).

Hamlin has a team of six chefs to help her run the Crown (four men and two women). Another female chef, Karen Kennedy, now runs the kitchen at the Duke. "We did not set out to employ mainly women chefs," says Singh. "But male chefs want to be told what to do, or to be bossy chefs - they don't seem to like freedom."

Hamlin, 33, would like to recruit a bigger pool of chefs but she bemoans the lack of suitable candidates. "There are so many jobs and not enough chefs. This is a difficult job because of the organic side. We have been understaffed since the beginning," she says. This means that sometimes she has to work 10 shifts (80 hours) a week.

However, despite the problems of recruiting kitchen brigades, Singhboulton plans to open another 10 organic gastropubs in London over the next four years. It is looking at areas like Battersea, Blackheath, Camden and Crouch End for premises and is constantly on the lookout for like-minded chefs.